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THE LIBHARV OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Cof-ita RtCEiveo 

AUG. 19 1901 

COWRIQMT ENT^r 

CLASS ^XXc No 
COPY B. 



Copyright 1901, 
ov 

. '^HIJiESTIHaRT.' 



PREFACE 



of Wsccosbi lauijj o . _r_-:-j- 



birth, led to a careful reading of all 
works of authority on the subject. 

My determination was to provide 
pupils with a work for supplementary 
reading that might stimulate them to 
further research. I am deeply indebted 
to Lewis H. Morgan, that honored cit- 
izen of Rochester, for much that may 
be found in the following pages. Park- 
man, Hosmer, Lockwood Doty, Peter 
A. Porter, Eggleston, Hale's Book of 
Rites, by D. G. Brinton ; the Jesuit 
Relations, from the New York Histor- 
ical Collections and papers by Dr. 
Beauchamp, have been carefullv read and 
studied. They are all benefactors, and 
should be so recognized by students. 



To Miss Sadie Pierepont Barnard the 
readers are indebted for the illus- 
trations that form one of the most in- 
teresting and instructive features of the 
work. Trusting that its mission may 
be fulfilled and others led to the field 
of investigation, I remain 

Sincerely yours, 

S. P. M. 



iRoauois 




"I've threaded many a devious maze 
And Alpine path without a rail. 

Yet never felt such tipsy craze 

As touched me on the Indian trail." 




N the Niagara frontier which 
played so important a part, 
was so coveted, and exerted 
so great an influence in peace and 
war, on the control, growth, settlement 
and civilization of the country ; almost 
within hearing of the mighty roar of 
the " Great Falls Oakinagaro," and 
fully within reach of their power is a 
fitting spot for the erection of this 
magic Pan-American city, which por- 




trays in Architecture, Sculptare anc 
Color, the transitiGn of man from the 
savage state to civilization, and within 
its gates are found the descendents of 
the " Ireokwa " in Indian tongue, 
meaning " The Tobacco People." 

Fascinated by the charm of story, 
myth, and legend relating the History, 
Life and Religion of the Indians of 
New York state it is intensely interest- 
ing to search along the Indian Trails 
now so nearly obliterated by the re- 
lentless march of civilization, for some 
trace or record of the savagen' that has 
paled and passed away. 

The hatchet has long been buried, 
and the treachery and cruelt\- of the 
savage that terrorized the early settlers 
is well nigh forgotten, and as zealously 



as they sought to avoid crossing the 
path of the redman, we new seek to 
discover their old battle sroxinds, hoard- 
ins every tiny bead, or arrow found, as 
a link in the chain that binds ta-zether 
the days of primitive life in the fores3 
and the all absorbing hurrv scurrv of 
modem times. 

Lured alone the trail of the Inxmois 
by discerning on a hill the broken oat- 4^ 
line of some old fortification and bv ^ 
finding bits of pottery, tomahawks, 
flint knives, arrows and spear points, in 
imasination we are led back to the time 
of fores3 primeval, which covered the 
Empire State, when the iii^hwavs o: 
water sni steel now traversins; fertile 
valley and farm, through village an. 
town, trom dtv to citv teeming wirh s-; 



f^ 





•iRoauois. 

life and industry, were all unknown and 
unwished. 

When the song of the birds, the cry 
of wild animals, the rush of streams and 
roar of cataracts, the sound of the wind 
through the trees, the voice of Henu, 
the Thunder God, among the hills and 
the war cry of the red man the true son 
of the forest, were the only sounds to 
break the stillnes. 

A far cry from that time to this, but 
imagination knows no bounds and will 
take us even farther back, to the tradi- 
tional origin of the Redman as given by 
the Oneida Sachems. 

Before man existed there were three 
great and good spirits, of whom one 
was superior to the other two and is 
emphatically called the Great and Good 



Spirit. At a certain time this exalted 
being said to one of the others, make a 
man. He obeyed, and taking chalk 
formed a paste of it, moulding it into 
the human shape, infused into it the 
animating principle and brought it to 
the Great Spirit. 

He, after surveying it said, "this is 
too white." He then directed the 
other good spirit to make a trial of his 
skill. Accordingly taking charcoal he 
pursued the same course and brought 
the result to the Great Spirit, who after 
surveying it said, " it is too black." 
Then, said the Great Spirit, " I will now 
try myself, and taking red earthy he form- 
ed a human being. In the same manner 
surveying it, said, " this is a proper, or 
perfect many 

5 




•iRoauois 





And these redmen, whose minds 
were filled with the vast solitudes of 
nature, whose untamed freedom and 
utter intolerance of control were in 
harmony with the cataracts, were stamp- 
ed with a hard and stern physiognomy. 

Ambition, envy, revenge and jeal- 
ousy were their ruling passions, and their 
cold temperments were little exposed to 
those vices that are the bane of weaker 
races. 

Yet, in spite of their haughty inde- 
pendence thev were devoted hero wor- 
shipers, and high achievement in war or 
policy, became a chord to which their 
nature never failed to respond. They 
looked up with admiring reverence to 
the sages and heroes of the tribe. Their 
love of glory was a burning passion. 
6 



The Iroquois were a people noted 
in history and their institutions are not 
yet extinct. They had acquired their 
country by conquest and gloried in the 
achievement. 

The Mo-he-ka-news, considered 
themselves the original inhabitants of 
this part of North America and were 
spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Lacking concentration and harmony 
they fell an easy prey to the Iroquois, 
who planted themselves in the midst of 
this widely extended nation. The 
Indian population of New York at its 
highest, was estimated at 7,000 to 
18,000. "That they had some ideas in 
advance of their white brothers who 
are exterminating birds, beasts and fish, 
may be inferred from the fact that the 

7 




jRoauois. 




Iroquois once made war on the Illinois, 
and nearly destroyed them, because 
they had violated the game laws of the 
hunting nations in not leaving a certain 
number of male and female beavers in 
each pond." 

Their moral and mental endowments 
must have been of a high order to call 
out such an eulogium as this : 

"Nowhere in a long career of dis- 
covery, of enterprise and extension of 
empire, have Europeans found natives 
of the soil with as many of the noblest 
attributes of humanity ; moral and 
physical elements which, if they could 
not have been blended with ours, 
could have maintained a separate exist- 
ence and been fostered by the proxim- 
ity of civilization and the arts. Every- 
8 



where, when first approached by our 
race, they welcomed it and made dem- 
onstrations of friendship and peace. 
Savages as they were called and 
savage as they may have been in their 
assaults and wars upon each other, 
there is no act of theirs recorded in our 
histories of early colonization, or wrong 
or outrage that was not provoked by as- 
saults, treachery or deception — breaches 
of the hospitalities they had extended 
to the strangers. Whatever of the 
savage character they may have possess- 
ed, so far as our race was concerned, it 
was dormant until aroused to action by 
assaults or treachery of intruders upon 
their soil, whom they had met and 
treated as friends." This does not 
bear out the theory that the only good 




>lRoauois 




Indian, is a dead one. The long house 
of the Iroquois had for its eastern door 
the sparkling v/aters of the Hudson, 
while the rolling waves of Lake Erie 
formed its Western entrance. This 
country, comprising as it did the pres- 
ent state of New York, was favorably- 
located for their stronghold, but their 
success was due to their inherent energy 
wrought to the most effective action 
under a political fabric well suited to 
the Indian life. 

Their highways were trails leading 
from different points of vantage, but all 
converging at Onondaga Village, the 
Onondagas being the fire keepers of the 
Six Nations which composed the great 
and strong Iroquoian Confederacy. 

This confederacy, called by themselves 



Ho-de-no-sau-nee, consisted originally 
of five nations, Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, aug- 
mented to six by the adoption of the 
Tuscaroras in 1714 or 15. From the 
western end of the Territory sallied 
forth the warlike Senecas, killing and 
making prisoners from the tribes in what 
are now known as the Western States, 
east of the Mississippi. In fact they laid 
all under their tribute. They roamed 
like the wolves that infested the forests 
through the tribes, adopting those 
whom they chose, thus strengthening 
their war parties, with every raid by in- 
corporating the flower of the tribes 
captured. 

Possibly they thought " all is fair in 
love and war," but not in games, of 




•iRoauois 





which the Indian is very fond, for tra- 
dition tells us of a mighty war which 
ended in the expulsion of the Eries 
from the territory west of the Gene- 
see, about the year 1654, because of a 
breach of faith or treachery on the part 
of the Eries in a ball game to which 
they had challenged the Senecas. " As 
there is no record, we may never know 
as to the umpire present on that occa- 
sion, whether he was smitten with a 
war club, cleft with a tomahawk, or 
merely transfixed with a flight of ar- 
rows. The Senecas were fair men, and 
it must have been some great prov- 
ocation that led them to wreak such 
vengeance on the Eries." Upon the 
whole they were an extraordinary 
people. Had they enjoyed the advan- 



tages possessed by the Greeks and 
Romans, there is no reason to believe 
that they would have been at all inferior 
to those celebrated nations. Their 
minds seem to have been equal to any 
efforts within the reach of man. Their 
conquests, if we consider their numbers 
and circumstances, were little inferior to 
Rome itself In their harmony, the 
unity of their operations, the energy of 
their character, the vastness, vigor and 
success of their enterprises, and the 
strength and sublimity of their elo- 
quence, they may be fairly contrasted 
with the Greeks. Each nation was 
divided into three tribes. The Tortoise, 
Bear and Wolf, each village a distinct 
republic, and its concerns were managed 
by its particular chief. 

13 



'iRoauois 




Their exterior relations, general in- 
terests, and national affairs were super- 
intended by a great council, assembled 
annually at Onondaga, the central 
council composed of the chiefs of each 
republic, and eighty sachems were fre- 
quently convened at their national as- 
sembly. 

It took cognizance of the great ques- 
tions of war and peace and of the affairs 
of the tributary nations. 

All their proceedings were conducted 
with great deliberation and were distin- 
guished for order, decorum and solem- 
nity. They esteemed themselves as 
sovereigns, accountable to none but 
God alone, whom they called the Great 
Spirit. No hereditary distinctions were 
admitted. The office of Sachem was 

H 



the reward of personal merit, great wis- 
dom, commanding eloquence or distin- 
guished services in the field, their 
most prominent characteristic being an 
exalted spirit of liberty that spurned 
foreign or domestic control. In war 
the use of stratagem was never neglect- 
ed. While they preferred to take an 
enemy off his guard, by leading him 
into an ambuscade, yet when necessary 
to face him in an open field they fought 
with a courage and contempt of death 
that has never been surpassed. 

One of the early missionaries de- 
scribes an Indian who shot at a large 
bear and wounded him ; the bear fell 
and lay whining and groaning. The 
Indian went up to him and said : 
" Bear, you are a coward, and no war- 

15 



'iRoauois 




rior. You know that your tribe and 
mine are at war, and that your's began 
it. If you had wounded me I would 
not have uttered a sound ; and yet you 
sit here and cry and disgrace your 
tribe." 

It is said that the Iroquois had 
planned a mighty union, and without 
doubt had the coming of Europeans 
been delayed a century later the league 
would have included all the tribes be- 
tween the Great Lakes and the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

The I roquoian Confederacy remained 
long after the Eastern and Southern 
tribes had lost their standing, and to 
this day keep intact their confederacy 
and tribal organizations. Their orig- 
inal congress was composed of fifty 
i6 



Sachems, and generally met at the On- 
ondaga council house. 

The business of the congress was 
conducted in a grave and dignified man- 
ner, the reason and judgment of the 
chiefs being appealed to rather than 
their passions. It was considered a 
breach of decorum for a Sachem to re- 
ply to a speech on the day of its de- 
livery, and no question could be decided 
without the concurrence of every mem- 
ber, thus securing unanimity. The 
Sachems served without badge of office, 
their sole reward being the veneration 
of their people in whose interests they 
were meeting. Public opinion exercised 
a powerful influence among the Iro- 
quois, the ablest among them having a 
common dread of the people, Subor- 

17 



:lRoauois. 




dinate to these Sachems was an order 
of chiefs, among whom were Red 
Jacket, Corn Planter and Big Kettle, 
who by their oratory and eloquence 
moved the councils or turned the braves 
on the warpath. A noticeable trait of 
the Iroquois was the regard paid to the 
opinions of women ; the sex were rep- 
resented in council by chiefs known as 
squaw men. Thus might the women 
oppose a war or aid in bringing about a 
bond of peace. They claimed a special 
right to interfere in the sale of land, 
their argument being that the land 
belonged to the warriors who defended 
and the squaws by whom it was tilled. 



Ml. . . '^^^^^ 







II. 

N taking up the government of 
the Iroquois the position which 
it occupies seemed to be be- 
tween the extremes of Monarchy on 
one hand and Democracy on the other. 
They had passed out of the first stages 
or eariiest forms of government, that of 
chief and mentor. It will be readily 
recognized that a monarchial govern- 
ment is incompatible with hunter life. 
Several tribes first united into one 
nation, the people mingled by inter-mar- 
riages, and the power of the chiefs ceased 
to be single and became joint. This 
brought out an Oligarchial form of gov- 
ernment ; several nations were united 
into a confederacy or league. Morgan 

19 



'iRoauois 




says that in its construction it was more 
perfect, systematic and liberal than those 
of antiquity; there was in the Indian 
fabric more of fixedness, more of de- 
pendence upon the people, more of 
vigor. It would be difficult to find a 
fairer specimen of the government of 
the few than the Iroquois, the happy 
constitution of its ruling body, and in 
the effective security of the people from 
misgovernment it stands unrivalled. 
The spirit prevailing in the confederacy 
was that of freedom. The people had 
secured to themselves all the liberty 
necessary for the united state, and fully 
appreciated its value ; the red man was 
always free from political bondage. 
"His free limbs were never shackled." 
The Iroquois were entirely convinced 



that man was born free, that no person 
on earth had any right to make any at- 
tempt against his liberty, and that noth- 
ing could make amends for its loss. 
The power of the desire for gain, that 
great passion of civilized man in its use 
and abuse, his blessing and his curse, 
never roused the Indian mind; un- 
doubtedly it was the reason for his re- 
maining in the hunter state. The de- 
sire for gain is one of the earliest man- 
ifestations of the progessive mind, and 
one of the most powerful incentives to 
which the mind is susceptible ; it clears 
the forest, rears the city, builds the 
merchantmen, in a word it has civilized 
the race. 

The creation of the class of chiefs 
furnishes the clearest evidence ot the 





development of the popular element. 
Under this simple but beautiful fabric 
of Indian construction arose the power 
of the Iroquois, reaching at its full me- 
ridian, over a large portion of our re- 
public. It is perhaps the only league 
of nations ever instituted among men, 
which can point to three centuries of 
uninterrupted domestic unity and peace. 
Their political system was necessarily 
simple. Their limited wants, absence 
of property in a comparative sense, and 
the infrequency of crime, dispensed 
with a vast amount of legislation and 
machinery incident to the protection of 
civilized society. From a speculative 
point of view the institutions of the 
Iroquois assumed an interesting aspect. 
Would they naturally have emancipated 



the people from their strange infatuation 
for a hunter life? It cannot be de- 
nied that there are some grounds for 
belief that their institutions would have 
eventually improved into civilization. 

The Iroquois at all times have mani- 
fested sufficient intelligence to promise a 
high degree of improvement if It had 
once become awakened and directed 
into right pursuits, though centuries 
might have been required to effect the 
change. 

But their institutions have a present 
value irrespective of what they might 
have become. The Iroquois were our 
predecessors, this country was once 
theirs. We should do justice to their 
memory by preserving their name, 
deeds, customs and institutions. We 

23 




jRoauois 




should not tread ignorantly upon those 
extinguished council fires, whose light 
in the days of aboriginal occupation was 
visible over half the continent. 



24 










^Dlii&iiJl 



. , .t 





III. 

HE villages of the Mohawks 
were chiefly in the Mohawk Val- 
ley. Around and near Oneida 
Lake were the principal villages of the 
Oneidas. The Onondagas were estab- 
lished in the valley of a river of that 
name and upon the hills adjacent. 

On the East shore of Cayuga Lake 
and upon the ridges to the Eastward 
were the villages of the Cayugas. In 
the center of Ontario and Monroe 
Counties were found the principal vil- 
lages of the Senecas, the most popu- 
lous of the Confederacy. In later 
years during their intercourse and 
warfare with the whites many of the 
ancient settlements were abandoned and 

25 






new ones established. In the natural 
order of things it became necessary for 
the town sites to be changed occasion- 
ally, as game or fish grew scarce, thus 
in the course of time nearly all of 
Western New York was covered with 
village sites. 

They boasted of occupying the high- 
est part of the continent, they owned 
the territory from whence flowed the 
head waters of the Mohawk, Hudson, 
Genesee, Deleware, Susquehanna, Ohio 
and St. Lawrence flowing in every 
direction to the sea. They held the 
gates of the country and through them 
could descend upon any point. Lake 
Ontario and the mountains on the north 
and the Alleghanies on the south 
aflxjrded ample protection from marau- 
26 



ders and migratory bands. Lakes and 
streams in a remarkable manner inter- 
sected every part of the Long House; 
whose head waters were separated only 
by short portages, and its continuous 
valleys divided by no mountain barri- 
ers offered unequaled facilities for in- 
ter-communication. 

Indian geographers had little trouble 
with boundary lines. Their custom of 
settling or establishing themselves on 
both sides of a river or taking in the 
entire circuit of a lake enabled each 
nation to know the boundaries of its 
territories. Having no knowledge of 
wells, their settlements were always 
made near natural water courses. 

The Tuscaroras when expelled from 
their possessions in North Carolina, in 

27 




•iRoauofs 




17 1 2, sought the protection of the 
Hodenosaunee. They were admitted 
into the Confederacy as the sixth nation 
and afterwards regarded as constituent 
members of the League, although never 
admitted to a full equality. In 1785 
the Tuscaroras were partially scattered 
among the other nations although they 
continued to preserve their nationality. 
They had some settlements at a later 
day near Oneida Lake, a village west of 
Cayuga and one in the valley of the 
Genesee below Avon. Subsequently 
the Senecas gave them a tract on the 
Niagara River to which they removed, 
their descendants still occupying a por- 
tion of this land near Lewiston. 

There were two other remnants of 
tribes located within the territory of the 

28 



Oneidas. The Mo-he-ke-nuks, a few 
miles south of Oneida Castle, and Dele- 
wares a few miles south of Clinton. 
They asked the Oneidas for a place to 
spread their blankets, their possessions 
being subsequently secured to them by 
treaty. Upon their foreign hunting 
grounds, which were numerous either 
nation was at liberty to encamp, but 
by the establishment of territorial limits 
the political individuality of each tribe 
was maintained. 

The most interesting feature of abo- 
riginal geography is the location of the 
trails, and singularly enough if we take 
either of the great railway lines now 
extending through our state, we are 
following one or the other of the leading 
trails that Lewis H. Morgan has traced 



29 



'iRoauois. 




as being used in 1732 ; the Indians 
usually following the line of least re- 
sistance. The central trail, extending 
from east to west, intersected by cross 
trails which passed along lakes or the 
banks of rivers, is commenced at the 
point where Albany now is, touched 
the Mohawk at Schenectady, following 
the river to the carrying place at Rome, 
from thence west, crossing Onondaga 
Valley, the foot of Cayuga and Seneca 
Lakes, and coming out at Buffalo 
Creek, the present site of Buffalo. This 
trail was later the route taken, with a 
few exceptions, by settlers in building a 
turnpike. This route connected the 
principal villages, and established a 
line of travel into Canada on the 
west, and over the Hudson on the east. 

30 



THOMAS LA FORTE. 

Sho-heh-do-nah. 







^ 






A 


L«--. 




' W^ 












^^ -f 






J Mi'. 




Wp 


I^a-"- 





ALBERT CUSICK. 

Sa-go-neh-quah-deh. 



OhhIS FARMER. 

Hu-DE-CWEH. 



ON-ON-DA-GA. 



Upon the banks of the Susquehanna 
and its branches, which have their 
source near the Mohawk, and upon the 
banks of the Chemung, which has its 
source near the Genesee, were other 
trails, all of *which converged upon 
Tioga at the junction of these two prin- 
cipal rivers, thus forming the great 
Southern route into Pennsylvania and 
Virginia. For century upon century, 
and by race after race these old and 
deeply worn trails have been used by 
the red man from the Atlantic to the 
Mississippi. These trails were as ac- 
curately laid out and judiciously planned 
as our own great thoroughfares. On 
many of these foot paths the Iroquois 
had conducted war parties and become 
well versed in the geography of the 

31 



'iRoauois 




country. With their immediate country 
they were as famihar as we, with 
our maps, books and teachers as 
aids. Lakes, hills and streams each 
had a significant name, and in many 
instances if the aboriginal names could 
be given such lakes and rivers, we 
should in time come to like them 
better. The nations spoke a different 
dialect of a common language ; al- 
though understood by all, the distinc- 
tion was decisive. This was probably 
the reason why geographical names 
vary so much in spelling. 
Buffalo in the Seneca dialect was, Do-sho-weh 
Buffalo in the Cayuga " " De-o-sho-weh 
Buffalo in the Onondaga " " De-o-sa-weh 

Buffalo in the Oneida " " De-ose-lols 

Buffalo in the Mohawk " " Deo-hose-lols 
Buffalo in the Tuscarora •* '• Ne-o-thro-ra 



32 




CAROLINE G. MOUNTPLEASANT. 

Ge-keah-saw-sa. 

The Peacemaker Queen of the Seneca-s Wolf Clan. 



In the translation of Indian words 
from their unwritten language into our 
written language they lose much of 
their euphony and force of accent. Many 
of their sounds are difficult to express 
in our language with our letters. The 
names, origin and significance are inter- 
esting. From the best authorities we 
note the following : The Senecas 
called themselves the Nun-da-wa-o-no, 
which signifies Great Hill People ; Nun- 
da-wa-o, the root of the word, means a 
Great Hill, and the terminal syllable 
o-no means people. This was the 
name of their oldest village, upon a hill 
at the head of Canandaigna Lake, near 
Naples, where according to Seneca tra- 
dition they sprang out of the ground. 
Gue-u-gweh-o-no, the name of the 

33 



•Iroquois 




Cayugas, the people at the mucky land, 
doubtless referring to the marsh at the 
foot of Cayuga Lake, near which 
their first settlements were made. 
O-nun-da-ga, Onondaga, signifies " or 
the hills," hence their self-applied name 
O-nun-da-ga-o-no means the People 
on the Hills, their first settlements 
being on the hills overlooking Onon- 
daga Valley. The Oneidas have so 
long been known as the people of the 
stone that the literal rendering of their 
name O-na-yoh-ka, may be interesting ; 
it signifies " Granite Rock." We give 
them their natural name Ono-yote-ka- 
o-no, " The Granite People." 

The significance of Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no, 
the Mohawks, the rendering of their 
name in rheir dialect meaning " The 

34 



DANIEL LA FORTE. 




THOMAS WEBSTER. 



JARI3 PIERCE. 



ONONDAGA. 



Possessor of the Flint." The name of 
the Tuscaroras, Deo-ga-o-weh, is ren- 
dered the " Shirt Wearing People ;" 
was a name given them before their mi- 
gration from North Carolina. All the 
preceding have been given in the Seneca 
dialect, to preserve uniformity. 



35 



•iRoauois 





IV. 

*' Realm of the Senecas no more. 
In shadow lies the pleasant vale ; 

Gone are the chiefs who ruled of yore 
Like chaff beiore the rushing gale." 

**^HE Senecas were not only the 
most numerous of the Six 
Nations, but foremost on the 
war-path, and gloried in their title of 
Ho-na-ne-ho-out, or the door-keepers of 
the upper entrance, proving a living 
barrier to all intruders and foes, often 
carrying war into other nations. The 
origin of the Senecas, as given by them- 
selves is legendary, although there is an 
apparent connection with their predeces- 
sors, showing that there may be some 
foundation to the statement by Lock- 
wood, that a thousand years or — as our 

36 



SOLOMON O. BAIL. 




IMtUUUHt JIMhHSON. 

De-hah-teh. 



CHESTER C. LAY. 
Ho-DO-EH-JI-AH. 



Indian friends would say one thousand 
snows — before the arrival of Columbus 
the Senecas were at war with the Kah- 
kwas. These prehistoric people, if we 
may so characterize them, must have 
been remarkable for their industry, 
patience and skill, as alone evinced by 
their fortifications, some of which may 
now be seen in a remarkable state of 
preservation. 

A portion of the old fortification at 
Oakfield, N. Y., still remains. The 
place was called by the Senecas Tegat- 
anasghque, meaning a doubly fortified 
town, having a fort at each end ; the 
one contained about four acres of 
ground, the other, about two miles dis- 
tant from this, and situated at the other 
extremity of the ancient town, enclosed 

37 



•iRoauois 




twice that surface. The ditch around 
the former was about five or six feet 
deep. A small stream of living water 
with a high bank circumscribed nearly 
one-third of the enclosed ground. 
There are traces of six gates and a dug- 
way from the works to the water. The 
ground on the opposite side of the 
water is in some places nearly as high 
as that on which they built the fortifica- 
tion, which might have made it neces- 
sary for the covered way to the water. 
A considerable number of large oaks 
have grown up within the enclosure, 
both in and upon the ditch and em- 
bankment. Some of them appear to 
be at least three or four hundred years 
old. In some places at the bottom of 
the ditch one could dig down five or 

38 



JOHN GRIFFIN. 

Wer-dyah-seha. 



WM. COOPER. 

Her-nohn-gwe-sers. 






DAVID MOSES. 

JO-WEESE. 



CHAUNCEY ABRAMS. 

NiS-HEA-NYAH-NANT. 



SENECA. 



six feet before reaching the original soil. 
Indian tradition savs that these works 
were raised, and a famous battle fought, 
in true Indian style, with Indian 
weapons, long before their knowledge 
and use of firearms. The nations used 
at that time bows, arrows and spears 
the war club and death mall. When 
the arrows were expended they came 
into close engagement, using the death 
mall. Their shield or dress for this 
method of fighting was a short jacket 
made of willow sticks laced tightly 
around the body. The head was cov- 
ered with a cap of the same kind, but 
commonly worn double for the better 
protection of that part against a stroke 
from a war club. Some affirm that in 
this battle 800 were slain four or five 

39 



•iRoauois 




ages ago, an age being reckoned as one 
hundred snows or winters. 

The other best preserved work of 
primitive man is the one known as Fort 
Hill, three miles north of Leroy, on a 
point of land formed by the junction of 
a small stream called Fordham's brook 
with Allen's creek. The best view of 
this fortification is had at the north of 
it, on the road from Bergen. From 
this point one may easily imagine that 
it was erected as a fortification by a 
large and powerful army looking for an 
inaccessible bulwark of defense. 

In the great contest for supremacy 
in North America, between France and 
England the Senecas played a con- 
spicuous part. Both French and Eng- 
lish claimed the Iroquois as subjects, 
40 



but the Senecas always claimed inde- 
pendence. The Neuter nation occu- 
pied all the territory north of Lake 
Erie from the Detroit river eastward, 
until their lands met those of the Iro- 
quois near the Genesee river. 

In 165 1 the Senecas, always on the 
war path for a slight cause, attacked 
them, and in a short but fierce campaign 
wiped them out as a nation, incorpo- 
rating the few remaining into their own 
tribe. The Senecas thereafter claimed 
title to this land gained by conquest 
and the other Indian tribes, holding 
them in fear and respect, recognized 
their claim. In 1679 and 1719 they 
granted the French important rights on 
the Niagara river, but refused equal 
rights to the English. In 1725 they 

41 




>lRoauois 




allowed the French to build a stone 
fort at the mouth of the river 

While the Indians made many- 
treaties and gave land deeds, they did 
not feel particularly bound by them if 
they interfered with their pleasure or 
convenience, and Indian giver is a term 
used to describe one from whom a per- 
son dislikes to receive a gift, not know- 
ing how soon its return may be desired. 
When two nations claim the same ter- 
ritory there is bound to be trouble, and 
so the French and English came in 
contact. What one nation acquired by 
deeds from the Indians they were 
obliged afterwards to acquire by arms 
from the other nations, and finally un- 
der treaty to surrender to a new nation. 

It has been said that no one spot of 
42 



land in North America has played a 
more important part, been more covet- 
ed, and exerted a greater influence, both 
in peace and war, on the control, on 
the growth, on the settlement and on 
the civilization of the country than the 
few acres embraced within the limits of 
old Fort Niagara, 

Beginning with 165 1, for eighteen 
years the Indians owned the land where 
Fort Niagara stands ; for fifty-six years 
more the Indians owned it, but the 
French influence was much in evidence; 
still another period of thirty-four years 
of Indian ownership, but occupied by 
the French; then five years of In- 
dian ownership, with occupation by the 
English. Now Indian ownership no 
longer. For twenty-four years the 

43 




•iRoauois 




English owned and occupied the spot 
for which they had longed and worked 
for eighty years. Then came American 
ownership with English occupation, 
and finally American ownership and oc- 
cupation. 

In the fall of 1763 Pontiac had or- 
ganized his great conspiracy, and the 
Senecas, whose hostility to the English 
had been noted by Sir William John- 
son two years before, and which was 
partly due to their bitterness at their 
loss of the business at the portage — 
Englishmen now monopolizing that 
business and employing carts instead of 
Indian carriers — were ready to and did 
co-operate with him, urged on thereto, 
no doubt by French influence and in- 
trigue in what they hoped would prove 

44 



the means of driving the English from 
Fort Niagara. This hostility of the 
Senecas had made it necessary to main- 
tain a garrison at the foot well as at 
the head of the portage ; and for large 
or valuable trains guards of soldiers 
were furnished from the fort. 

On September 14, 1763 a new por- 
tage road had been finished between 
Lewiston and Schlosser, and a train of 
twenty-five wagons and one hundred 
horses and oxen guarded by troops 
from Fort Niagara, variously stated at 
from twenty-five to three hundred, set 
out for Schlosser. At the Devil's Hole 
the Senecas to the number of five hun- 
dred ambushed and pillaged the train, 
threw the wagons and oxen down the 
bank and slew all but three of the es- 

45 



•iRoauois 



15^_^. 




cort and drivers. Hearing the firing 
the garrison at Lewiston, consisting of 
two companies, hastened to help their 
comrades. But the Senecas had pre- 
pared an ambush also for this expected 
action, and all but eight of this force 
were killed. Some of these eight car- 
ried the news to Fort Niagara, whence 
the commander with all the soldiers, 
leaving a sufficient guard for the fort, 
hastened to the scene of the slaughter. 
The Senecas had fled, but over eighty 
scalped corpses, including those of six 
officers, bore bloody witness to their 
hatred of the English. 

On the collapse of Pontiac's bold 
and partly successful scheme, the Sen- 
ecas, fearful of receiving at the hands 
of the English the punishment they so 
46 




richly deserved, sent in April, 1764, 
four hundred men to Sir William John- 
son to beg for peace. Now was the 
time for the English to make the Sen- 
ecas pay off the Devil's Hole debt, 
and Sir William Johnson was the man 
to face the settlement. Yet he was too 
shrewd to think, of demanding life for 
life, or any galling conditions that 
would have involved England in a war 
for the extermination of the Senecas. 
No ; he desired most of all that the 
Senecas should be the friends of the 
English, and so he made them pay for 
their past misdeeds in land. Eng- 
land already had the occupation of 
this territory along the Niagara river. 
She wanted also the unquestioned fee. 
Here was Sir William's chance, and he 

47 




'iRoauois 




improved it. He insisted that besides 
other conditions the Senecas should 
cede to England all the land on both 
sides of Niagara river, from Lake On- 
tario to Schlosser. The Senecas as- 
sented, provided the land be always ap- 
propriated to the king's sole use, and 
provided that a definite treaty be had 
within three months, and that the lines 
be run in the presence of Sir William 
Johnson and the Senecas, so as to pre- 
clude any subsequent misunderstand- 
ings. Eight chiefs signed the agreement, 
which, by the way, they never intended 
to keep, although they left three of 
their chiefs with Johnson as hostages. 
Before this visit of the Senecas, ar- 
rangements had already been completed 
by the British to prevent the recur- 
48 



rence of another conspiracy like that of 
Pontiac. All the tribes whose friend- 
ship, with a reasonable expectation of its 
permanency could be obtained by pre- 
sents and good treatment, were to be 
secured in this way. Against all others 
armies were to be sent to crush and 
overawe them. 

The occasion when the above treaty 
was to be ratified, was a general meet- 
ing of all Indian tribes who desired 
peace at Fort Niagara in July, 1764, to 
which Johnson had already invited 
them, in order to readjust their rela- 
tions with the English government. 
Two military expeditions were planned, 
one for the west under General Brad- 
street, 1,200 strong, which assembled 
at Oswego in June, where it was joined by 

49 



'iRoauois 




Sir Wm. Johnson, with 550 Iroquois. 
They reached Niagara July 3,1764, and 
found there such a scene of activity as 
one can hardly conceive of to-day. 

Over one thousand Indians, repre- 
senting many tribes, extending from 
Nova Scotia to the headwaters of the 
Mississippi, whose numbers a few days 
later were increased to 2,060, were as- 
sembled to meet and treat with John- 
son. Such a representative concourse 
of Indians had never before been seen. 
Their wigwams stretched far across the 
fields, and to this picturesque scene 
were now added the white tents of Brad- 
street's men. Many reasons had in- 
duced this great assemblage of the In- 
dians. Some came to make peace be- 
cause the aid from the French had not 

50 



been forthcoming ; some because they 
were tired of war ; some because they 
needed clothing, amunition, etc., and 
could get them in no other way ; some 
to protest their friendship for the En- 
glish ; some by an early submission 
to avert retribution for past offenses ; 
some came as spies, and some, no doubt, 
because they knew that at such a time 
firewater would be easily obtainable. 

Though this assemblage consisted of 
peace-desiring savages, their friendly 
disposition was not certain. Several 
straggling soldiers were shot at, and 
great precautions were taken by the 
English garrison to avert a rupture. 
The troops were always on their guard 
while the black muzzles of the cannons 
thrust from the bastions of the fort 



51 



^^^-=^ 




►iRoauois 




struck a wholesome awe into the savage 
throng below. But among all the 
throng the Senecas were not present, in 
spite of their promise to ratify their 
agreement at this time. They were at 
home considering whether they would 
keep it or not, for they had already 
made an alliance with other tribes 
against the English. Notice was sent 
to them that unless they at once ful- 
filled their agreement the army, then 
at Niagara, would forthwith march 
against them and burn their villages. 
A large body of this warlike tribe over- 
awed by this menace, at once went to 
Niagara. It took all the diplomacy, 
shrewdness and influence of Sir William 
Johnson to preserve order and peace 
among the savages. Many who had 

52 










HISTORIC WAMPUM OF THE SIX NATIONS. 



been hostile to each other, and but 
lately fighting against the English. The 
business of the assemblage detained 
him at the fort for a month. 

The council room was crowded from 
morning until evening ; but the tiresome 
formalities which had to be observed on 
such occasions, the speeches made and 
the replies thereto, the smoking of 
pipes, the distribution of presents, the 
judicious serving out of whiskey, the 
terms of each treaty, the tax on the 
memory of remembering what each 
belt of wampum given by and received 
from each tribe meant, while fatiguing, 
were finally brought to a successful end. 
One point of policy was rigidly adhered 
to. Johnson would hold no general 
conference; with each tribe he either 

53 



■iRoauois 




made a separate treaty, or where satis- 
factory treaties were in existence he 
merely tightened the chain of friend- 
ship. By this course he made the 
best of terms, by promoting a rivalry 
among the tribes. He also thus dis- 
couraged a feeling of union and of a 
common cause among them. First of 
all he met the Senecas, and till their 
agreements had been ratified and the 
Imes of the land to be deeded to the 
English had been settled ; Sir William 
would transact no other business. 

The Senecas ratified their former 
agreement, and on August 6th they 
deeded to the English crown a strip of 
land four miles wide on each bank of 
the Niagara river from Lake Erie to 
Lake Ontario, thus adding to their for- 

54 



mer agreement all the land from Schlos- 
ser to Lake Erie on both sides of the 
river. General Bradstreet had asked 
Johnson to try and get this extra ces- 
sion, in order that England might have 
title to the land where Fort Erie, at 
the source of the Niagara on the Can- 
adian side now stands. He was anxious 
to build a depot for provisions there. 
Johnson asked for it. The Senecas 
were ready to do anything asked of 
them while that English army was on 
the ground, so they readily consented. 
They specially excepted from their 
grant and gave to Johnson personally, 
as a gift, all the islands in the Niagara 
river, and he promptly gave them to 
his sovereign. This was the first tract 
of land in the limits of the present 

55 



•iRoauois 




Western New York to which the In- 
dian title was absolutely extinguished, 
and this remarkable land deal, so vast 
in the amount of territory involved, so 
beneficial to the whites in the power it 
gave them for trade and the settlement 
of the country, and of such enormous 
subsequent value in view of very re- 
cent developments along this frontier, 
was closed 137 years ago, within the 
historic fortifications of Fort Niagara. 
From this time on for fully thirty years 
the Senecas were allied with and es- 
poused the cause of the English. The 
treatise with the many other tribes were 
then arranged without difficulties. The 
cost of this Indian congress at Niagara 
was considerable. The expense of pro- 
visions for the Indians only was 

56 



^25,000 New York currency, equal to 
about 1 1 0,000, while ;^3 8,000 sterling, 
1190,000, was expended for presents 
made to them. 



57 



'iRoauois 





V. 



ED JACKET, whose war- 
whoop rang along the banks 
of Tonawanda creek was an 
orator of whom any nation might be 
proud, and as if by common consent 
the Senecas were allowed the head war 
chief. He was also at the head of the 
Iroquois. He was born about 1750, 
where the town of Geneva now stands 
at the foot of Seneca lake. He laid no 
claim to noble descent ; he came of an 
ordinary Indian family, who undoubted- 
ly did not expect great thmgs from 
him, as he was small and insignificant 
for an Indian; Red Jacket made 
up the deficiency by his immense 
58 




RED JACKET. 



conceit. He evinced no predilection 
for war ; in fact did not go upon the 
war path till the invasion of his country, 
when he was 29 years of age forced 
every Iroquois to defend his home. 
He was a swift runner in his youth, 
and called Otetiani or Always Ready. 
His own people used him as a messen- 
ger, and during the Revolutionary war 
he was useful as a runner, but more 
useful as an orator possessing unusual 
intelligence. As a reward for his serv- 
ices he was presented a red or scarlet 
jacket, richly embroidered. Imagine 
for yourself his feelings when Otetiani 
donned this, which gave him the name 
by which he was afterward known by 
the whites. He was so delighted that 
at the close of the war, when the Amer- 

59 



•iRoauois 




cans wished to gain his favor, he was 
kept well supplied with red jackets. 

The opposite of Red Jacket, the 
Seneca, was Brant, the Mohawk. One 
from the east end of the Long House, 
the other from the west. Brant, tall 
and muscular, with large bright eyes 
and broad, low forehead. Red Jacket 
small, wiry, with little sharp eyes look- 
ing out from overhanging brows, and a 
towering forehead. Brant was the 
grandson of a chief reared under Chris- 
tian influences, educated among the 
whites, a member of the Episcopal 
church and gentlemanly in his bearing. 
Red Jacket was an Indian of the In- 
dians, hated civilization, detested edu- 
cation and Christianizing influences and 
did not pretend to conform to the 
60 



usages of society. Brant was proud ; 
had gained his influence as a warrior. 
Red Jacket was vain and lacked cour- 
age. He was very smart and had no 
scruples as to what means he used to 
gain influence. They were both great 
men among the Six Nations, both pat- 
riotic, both loved their own people and 
customs, and preferred them to those 
of the whites. Brant hated Red Jacket 
heartily, and could find no excuse for 
the lack of courage shown by him. 
Brant was prompt with his aid in the 
English cause. Red Jacket was a 
young man with gifts, was not a war- 
rior, and unscrupulous as to which 
cause he espoused so long as he gained 
influence. The two naturally clashed. 
Brant called Red Jacket the cow killer, 
6i 



'iRoauois 




claiming that Red Jacket with his elo- 
quence urged his people to fight, but 
when the fight came oflf he was missing, 
having stayed at home to eat up a cow 
which he had captured. The brave 
Seneca chief Cornplanter had as much 
of a dislike for Red Jacket as Brant, 
calling him an intriguer. The story is 
told of a dinner at which Red Jacket 
was a guest. Cornplanter told the story 
of the cow as though some other In- 
dian was concerned. Brant and Corn- 
planter enjoyed the joke hugely ; Red 
Jacket was confused, and could not con- 
ceal it. When some one seemingly 
quizzed Red Jacket as to his prowes, 
he responded : " I am an orator ; I 
was born an orator ;" and judging 
from accounts he must have been a 
62 



very eloquent speaker. His name 
Sagoyewatha, or " He keeps them 
awake," applied to him by his cotem- 
poraries, would indicate the esteem with 
which his powers of oratory were held. 
Red Jacket was a favorite with the 
squaws ; they always chose him to speak 
for them when they were allowed to 
have a voice in the meeting of the great 
council of the Six Nations. In 1794 
he said for them that they wished to 
remark that they fully agreed with their 
Sachems that the white people had 
caused the troubles of the Indians. 
The white people had squeezed them 
together until it gave them a pain at 
their hearts, and they thought the white 
people ought to give back all the lands 
which they had taken. One of the 

63 



•Iroquois 




white women said Red Jacket had told 
the Indians to repent at the last meet- 
ing, and the Indian women now called 
on the white people to repent, for they 
needed repentance as much as the In- 
dians. During this conference Red 
Jacket often addressed the Commis- 
sioner, Col. Pickering, and a few quota- 
tions may enable the reader to form an 
idea of his ability : 

" We stand on a small island in the 
bosom of the great waters ; we are en- 
circled, we are encompassed ; the evil 
spirit rides upon the blast and the 
waters are disquieted; they rise, they 
press upon us, and the waves settle over 
us ; we disappear forever. Who then 
lives to mourn for us ? None ! What 
marks our extermination ? Nothing." 

64 



Once during the council, Mr. Morris, 
who was acting as an agent, remarked 
that the lands in their present state were 
worth but little. Red Jacket admitted 
that, but said that the knowledge of 
ownership was of great value to the 
Indian. That knowledge is everything 
to us, said he ; it raises us in our own 
estimation. It creates in our bosom a 
proud feeling, which elevates us as a 
nation. Observe the difference in 
which a Seneca and an Oneida are 
held. We are courted, while the Onei- 
das are considered a degraded people, 
fit only to make brooms and baskets. 
Why the difference ? It is because the 
Senecas are land owners, while the 
Oneidas are cooped up in a narrow 
space. At the close of the meeting 

65 




•iRoauois 




Red Jacket, although openly opposing 
the terms of the treaty, secretly asked 
permission to place his name at or near 
the top. 

Red Jacket visited Philadelphia in 
1792. While there he was presented 
with a large silver medal by President 
Washington. On it was represented 
Washington in military attire handing 
a peace pipe, about four feet long, to a 
conventional Indian with a tuft of 
plumes growing out of his head. A 
white man was plowing with a yoke of 
oxen in the background. Red Jacket 
prized this medal highly, and wore it 
on all state occasions. 

While in Philadelphia each member 
of the deputation of chiefs was present- 
ed with a suit of military clothes by 
66 



General Knox. When Red Jacket's 
suit was presented him, he sent back 
word that he could not wear it, as he 
was not a warrior, but a peace chief. 
He asked for a citizen's suit, keeping 
the military until he received the other. 
When the suit of plain clothes was 
brought him he refused to give up the 
military suit, saying that when war 
came he could wear it with propriety. 
When he returned from his visit to the 
capitol he was accustomed to impress 
the Indians with exaggerated stories of 
the treatment he had received from the 
President. Gathering his people he 
would rehearse the scenes and repeat 
the compliments he pretended the Pres- 
ident had paid him. Perhaps the 
greatest trial to which he was subjected 

(>7 



•iRoauois 




was when a brother of Cornplanter, 
who pretended to be a prophet, tried 
to convince the nation that Red Jacket 
was a witch. The chiefs Hfe was in 
danger, and his trial was held in solemn 
council. He made his own defense for 
three hours. His eloquence moved his 
audience in spite of themselves. Opin- 
ion was divided and a bare majority 
were in favor of Red Jacket, so that 
his life was saved. 

At one time he was called as a wit- 
ness in a murder trial, and examined 
with regard to Indian laws and customs. 
The prosecutor, wishing to exclude his 
testimony, asked him if he believed in 
God? More truly than one who could 
ask such a question, was his indignant 
answer. In answer to the question as 

68 



to his rank, he replied, look at the 
papers which the white men keep most 
carefully ; they will tell you who I am, 
referring to the treaties by which the 
whites had acquired their lands. He 
saw that the lawyers and bystanders 
were ridiculing the Indian superstitions. 
What, he exclaimed, do you denounce 
us as fools for believing what you be- 
lieved two hundred years ago ? Your 
ministers thundered this doctrine from 
their pulpits ; your judges pronounced 
it from the bench ; it was sanctioned by 
the law ; now would you punish one 
unfortunate brother for adhering to his 
father's faith ? 

Red Jacket's course during the war 

of 1 8 12 was an honorable one; he 

sided with the Americans, and fought 

69 




•iRoauois 




well. He proposed to General Brown 
that the Indians be withdrawn from the 
British and American armies, which 
was accomplished, he promising to re- 
turn and assist General Brown if neces- 
sary. At the close of the war his one 
idea was to prevent the whites from 
encroaching with their religion and cus- 
toms upon his people. He considered 
the school and the church but the ad- 
vance agents of the settler with his ax. 
There were two distinct parties, one 
pagan, the other Christian. When 
asked why he hated the missionaries he 
replied they do us no good ; if they 
are useful to the whites why do they 
send them to the Indians ? In reply 
to a question from a lady as to whether 
he had any children living, he said : 

70 



Red Jacket was once a great man and 
in favor with the Great Spirit. He 
was a lofty pine among the smaller 
trees of the forest, but after years of 
glory he degraded himself by drinking 
the firewater of the white man. The 
Great Spirit has looked upon him in 
anger and, His lightning has stripped 
the pine of its branches. Upon his 
second wife joining the church he 
abandoned her. Reconciliation was 
brought about by a little girl ; Red 
Jacket returned to his home, promising 
never to interfere with his wife's religion, 
and he kept his promise. Before he 
left her his wife was obliged to steal 
away in order to go to church ; now he 
would call his daughter early Sunday 
morning, saying, come it is Sunday ; get 

71 



•iRoauois 




up and get the work all done so as to 
go to church with your mother. 

The words spoken when christening 
a vessel named after him are interest- 
ing : " You have a great name given 
to yoUj" said he, addressing the ship ; 
" strive to deserve it. Be brave and 
daring ; go boldly into the great lakes, 
and fear neither the swift wind nor the 
strong waves ; be not frightened nor 
overcome by them, for it is in resisting 
storms and tempests that I whose name 
you bear obtained my renown ; let my 
example inspire you to courage and lead 
you to glory." Red Jacket with great 
difficulty acquired table manners. He 
once told that when he dined with 
Washington a man ran off with his 
knife and fork every now and then, and 
72 



I 



returned with others. As a young man 
he had often hunted in the Genesee 
Valley; as an old man he visited the val- 
ley, and on entering the forest resolved 
to have one more hunt. He had not 
gone far before he saw an opening. A 
fence was in the way, and white 
men were plowing in the distance. 
The chief sadly turned in another direc- 
tion ; he had, as he supposed, buried 
himself deep in the forest, and when he 
came upon the white man's field the 
old man sat down and wept. 

After his health declined and he knew 
that he must die, he visited the cabins 
of his friends and talked over the affairs 
of his people. I am about to leave 
you, he said, and when my voice is no 
longer heard the craft and power of the 

73 



•iRoauois 




white man will prevail. Many winters 
have I breasted the storm, but I am an 
aged tree and can stand no longer. My 
leaves are fallen, my branches are with- 
ered, and I am shaken with every 
breeze ; soon my aged trunk will be 
prostrate, and the foot of the exulting 
foe of the Indian will be planted upon 
it in safety ; for I have none who will 
be able to avenge such an indignity. 
Think not I mourn for myself I go 
to join the spirits of my fathers, but my 
heart fails me when I think of my 
people, who are soon to be scattered 
and forgotten. Bury me by the side 
of my wife, and let my funeral be in 
accord with the customs of our nation. 
Let me be dressed and equipped as my 
fathers were, that their spirits mav re- 

74 



WM. C. HOAG. 




£^ 




*^ 



i 


^^ 




^ 


i 


lipW 



..^ 



HARRISON HALFTOWN. ALFRED JIMERSON. 

SENECA. 



joice at my coming. Almost the last 
thing the old chief did was to call a 
council of both parties among his people 
and recommend that they should quarrel 
no more, but each believe according to 
his own way. He was taken suddenly 
during this council and never recovered, 
meeting death bravely at the age of 78 
years. 

Cornplanter (Gy-ant-wa-ka) was one 
of the wisest of the Senecas. As 
an adviser no one was more esteemed. 
He was born at Ca-na-wau-gus ; later in 
life he lived on the Alleghany river, 
although closely identified with the 
Genesee Senecas. He had a strain of 
white blood which was quite noticeable, 
he being much lighter in color than the 
other chiefs. He was among the first 

75 



•Iroquois 




to adopt the white man's costume, and 
in laier years might easily have been 
taken for a well-to-do farmer. He was 
easy in manner and correct in morals. 
He ranked above Red Jacket as a war- 
rior, and was but little inferior to him 
as an orator. He took part against the 
colonists in the war of the Revolution, 
and after its close down to Wayne's 
victory in 1794 was quite unsettled. He 
was older than Red Jacket, and was par- 
donably jealous of that rising young 
man. He lived to a very old age, and 
finally resigned his chieftainship in a 
very odd way. It was one of the 
strange customs of the Iroquois to in- 
terpret dreams. An Indian would go 
from wigwam to wigwam and ask the 
inmates to interpret a dream he had 

76 



had. If they gave him an interpreta- 
tion that suited him he would accept it 
and act accordingly. Cornplanter had 
a dream that puzzled him. Almost 
naked, in midwinter, he went from 
house to house to have his dream in- 
terpreted ; on the third day he found 
an Indian who said: " After this you 
shall be called O-no-no, or cold. You 
have been a chief long enough for 
the good of your nation; you have 
grown too old to be of much further 
use as a counselor or warrior, and 
you must appoint a successor if you 
wish to be in favor with the Great 
Spirit. You must remove from your 
house, and light every article made by 
the white man." Cornplanter accepted 
this interpretation. All the presents 

11 



I 



'iRoauois 




he had received he solemly burned ; his 
tomahawk was the only thing preserved ; 
that he sent to the Indian he had 
chosen as his successor. 

Handsome Lake (Ga-ne-o-di-yo), was 
a half-brother of Cornplanter, and stood 
high as a medicine man and spiritual 
guide. Once when a young Indian 
girl was sick her friends sent him her 
clothes. He took them, laid a handful 
of tobacco on the fur, and as it burned 
delivered an address to the Great Spirit. 
After a moment's silence he said, after 
looking at her clothes : " This afflic- 
tion is a punishment to her for cruelly 
drowning a nest of young robins, and 
a few hours later for repeating the 
offense. Two young deer must be 
killed, a yearling buck and a yearling 



doe. The whole of both must be 
cooked, and the entire village invited to 
the feast, to be followed by a dance." 
Some days were spent in finding the 
deer, after which the request was com- 
plied with and the girl recovered. This 
wise medicine man was of medium size, 
goodly presence, and modest and quiet 
in demeanor. 

Tall Chief was born at an Indian 
village located across the river from 
Mt. Morris, on Murray's Hill. The 
spring where he got his supply of water 
is still in use, and bears his name. A 
bed of tansy planted by him still flour- 
ishes near the site of his lodge. He 
was said to resemble Henry Clay — 
straight as an arrow, always cool and 
self-possessed. Tall Chief's name ap- 

79 



'iRoauois 




pears in the big tree treaty, and is 
otherwise associated with the affairs of 
his nation. He was once entertained 
by Washington on the occasion of a 
visit of a deputation of chiefs to Wash- 
ington, sent to smoke the pipe of peace 
with the President. After a ceremo- 
nious dinner a big pipe was hghted, and 
after the President smoked he handed 
the pipe to Tali Chief, who felt highly 
honored, and always enjoyed referring 
to this occasion. In 1828 he removed 
to Tonawanda where he died not long 
after. 



80 



I 




< "5 



5 ! 



VI. 



HE Iroquois resided in perma- 
nent villages. Not digging 
wells, they located their vil- 
lages upon lakes or rivers, or near large 
springs. About the time of the forma- 
tion of the Confederacy, when they 
were liable to the encroachments of the 
hostile tribes, their villages were pro- 
tected by stockades that were construct- 
ed by digging trenches several feet deep 
around several acres of land. Throwing 
up the ground on the inside, they set a 
continuous row of posts on their bank 
of earth, at such an angle that they pro- 
jected over the trench ; sometimes the 
row of posts was doubled or tripled. 



'iRoauois 




Inside this enclosure they constructed 
their bark houses or wigwams. Around 
this on the outside was the village field, 
consisting of several hundred acres of 
land, divided into planting lots belong- 
ing to different families, separated by 
uncultivated ridges. One of the oldest 
of these villages was at the head of 
Canandaigua lake. On the village site 
of Lima was also one of their oldest 
towns. 

About the commencement of the 
17th century, when they became pow- 
erful enough to protect themselves from 
the inroads of the surrounding tribes, 
only the Mohawks and Oneidas con- 
structed stockades, and those only to 
protect themselves from the attacks of 
the French. The modern village was 
82 



a cluster of houses planted at irregular 
intervals over a large area. Nothing 
like street arrangements were known ; 
two houses seldom fronting the same 
line, being grouped sufficiently near for 
a neighborhood. 

Their villages at an early date were 
reckoned by the number of houses. 
When the village was scattered over a 
large area the houses were made single 
and designed for only one family. 
When compact, as in ancient times, the 
houses were built long, ranging from 50 
to 130 feet in length and about 16 feet 
in width, divided into compartments 
each 1 2 feet ; and accommodated 
several families, each department being 
in fact a separate house, having a fire in 
the center, accommodating two families, 

83 




^]Ji=*:--JA. 



•iRoauois 




having one upon each side. Thus a 
house one hundred and twenty feet long 
would contain ten fires and twenty fam- 
ilies. It is not improbable that the 
largest village of the Iroquois numbered 
3,000 inhabitants. The bark house 
was a simple structure. When single it 
was 12x15 feet on the ground, and 
from 15 to 20 feet high. The frame 
consisted of upright poles set well in 
the ground, five or six on the sides and 
four in the end, including corners. 
Upon the forks of these poles, about 
ten feet from the ground, cross 
poles were laid, to which the rafter poles 
were tied with bark, the poles being 
bent from one side to the other, form- 
ing an arched roof When the frame 
was completed it was usually covered 
84 



with red elm or white ash bark, laid 
rough side out. The bark was flattened 
and dried, then cut in the form of 
boards. To hold these boards another 
row of poles was placed on the outside, 
and by means, of splints and bark rope 
fastenings the boards were secured hori- 
zontally between them. It usually re- 
quired four lengths of boards and four 
courses from the ground to the rafters 
to cover a side, as they were lapped at 
the ends as well as clapboarded, also in 
the same proportion for the ends. In 
like manner the roof was covered with 
bark boards, smaller in size, with the 
rough side out and the grain running 
up and down, the boards being stitched 
through and through with fastenings, 
and these held between the frames of 

85 



>lRoauois 




poles as on the sides. In the center of 
the roof was an opening for the smoke, 
the fire being upon the ground in the 
center of the house, and the smoke as- 
cending without the guidance of a chim- 
ney. At the two ends of the house 
were doors, either of bark hung upon 
hinges of wood, or of deer or bear 
skins suspended before the opening. 
However long the house, or whatever 
number of fires, these were the only 
entrances. Over these entrances was 
cut the totem or tribal device of the 
head of the family within. Upon the 
two sides were arranged wide seats, also 
of bark boards, about two feet from the 
ground, well supported underneath, 
cmd reaching the entire length of the 
house. Upon these they spread their 
86 



mats of skins, also their blankets, 
using them as seats by day and couches 
at night. Similar berths upon each 
side, about five feet above, and secured 
to the frame of the house, thus furnish- 
ing accommodation for the family. 
Upon the cross poles near the roof 
were hung in bunches, braided together 
by the husks, the winter supply of 
corn. 

Charred and dried corn and beans 
were generally stored in bark barrels 
and stowed away in corners. Their 
implements for the chase, domestic 
utensils, weapons, etc., were stored 
away or hung up wherever an unoccu- 
pied spot could be found. A house of 
this description would accommodate a 
family of eight with the limited wants 

87 




•iRoauois 




of the Indian, and afford necessary 
shelter for their stores. 

After they had learned the use of the 
ax they began to substitute houses of 
hewn logs, but they were constructed 
after the ancient model. Many of the 
houses in the Valley of the Genesee 
were of this description. 

There was another species of house 
or wigwam, either for temporary use or 
a small family. It was triangular at the 
base, the frame consisting of three poles 
on a side, meeting at the top with 
space sufficient for a chimney opening, 
being covered with bark similar to the 
others. During the hunt, houses of 
this description were often erected. 

The Iroquois were accustomed to 
bury their surplus corn and also their 

88 



chared green corn in caches, in 
which the former would be preserved 
for a year and the latter for a longer 
period. I have found charred corn 
and beans in the earthworks near Le- 
roy and Oakfield. They excavated a 
pit, made a bark bottom and sides, and 
having deposited the corn placed a bark 
roof over it, then covered the whole 
with earth. Cured venison and other 
meats were stored in like manner, ex- 
cept with the addition of deer skin 
under the bark. 

" Very spacious was the wigwam 
Made of deerskin dressed and whitened." 

So sings the poet, but compared with 
our modern homes the wigwam would 
hardly be considered spacious. Still it 
was a home, and though relentless on 

89 




'iRoauois 




the warpath, we read that the hospital- 
ity of the Senecas to friends was un- 
bounded. Their captives were many, 
and on their reservations may still be 
found descendents of the Cherokee, 
Seminole, Illinois and Catawbas cap- 
tured by them on their raids. Our ad- 
miration and wonder are attracted to 
them when it is learned that in all the 
numerous cases of captivity escape 
from the captors was never undertaken. 
If of their own race and color he soon 
forgot that he was in the wigwam of 
strangers. Social and political cour- 
tesies were extended him. Were his 
family left behind they were brought to 
him. The interests of the captors and 
the ones captured were identical. So 
it was to a great degree with our own 
90 



race, many of whom were made 
captives, but not degraded, and there 
being no restraint or coercion the desire 
for escape entirely disappeared. They 
invariably preferred remaining rather 
than return to their own kindred. The 
freedom of outdoor life, and the in- 
fluence of kindness tended to produce 
this state of affairs. 

The Indian mother knew no differ- 
ence between the natural and adopted 
child ; no discrimination, or if any, in 
favor of the ward. The government 
rested lightly on the people, who were 
really governed but little. An individ- 
ual independence that the Senecas 
knew well how to prize was created, 
and then, as at the present time, the 
self-governing people were the happiest. 

91 




giRoauois 




But little can be said of their progress 
in art or science, still their integrity, un- 
bounded hospitality, unbroken fidelity, 
inborn sentiments so conspicuous in 
their character, form ornaments that no 
art of education can bestow. 

The character of our Indian prede- 
cessors in the "Realm of the Senecas " 
will stand the search light of investiga- 
tion and challenge the admiration of 
the investigators. It has been proved 
that the dog was the first wild animal 
domesticated by man, and Townsend 
says : " The dog is the greatest con- 
quest man ever made, as the dog was 
the first element in human progress. 
Without the dog man would have been 
compelled to vegetate eternally in the 
swaddling clothes of savagery. It 
92 



was the dog that effected the passage 
of human society from the savage to 
the patriarchial state, in making possi- 
ble the guardianship of the flock. It 
is to the dog that man owed his hours 
of leisure in which he made observa- 
tions that led him to advance and rise 
in the scale of human progress." All 
honor to the dog if this be true, and 
every mongrel cur should receive some 
measure of respect from the race he 
has so greatly benefitted. And when 
one thinks of the amount of abuse 
heaped upon him is it any wonder that 
in the face of such ingratitude he oc- 
casionally goes mad ? 

They were all a race of hunters, liv- 
ing upon the fruits of the chase, and 
making their clothing and wigwams of 

93 







\^ 



■^t^ 



'iRoauois 




the skins of the animals with which the 
forests abounded. The necessities of 
hunter life divided great families into 
tribes and bands. Homes and villages 
were moved as often as stern necessity 
compelled them to seek new fields in 
the pursuit of game. 

Cusick, the celebrated Indian nar- 
rator, gives some very interesting stories 
in regard to their allotment of homes 
to the various tribes. He says the 
Senecas were directed to settle south of 
Canandaigua lake, on a spot known as 
Bare Hill. Some one was sent from 
the Great Spirit to instruct them in the 
duties of hfe. He gave them seeds, 
directed them in their use, and also 
gave them dogs to aid in taking game. 
Prosperity was on all hands, but the 

94 



emissary of the Great Spirit returned to 
the heavens. Monsters then appeared, 
devouring the people and devastating 
the country. These monsters were no 
borrowed prodigy, but creations of his 
untutored mind. The flying head 
being one of these, said to invade their 
houses at night, devouring the inmates, 
compeUing the people to construct 
houses that it could not enter. Such a 
being has no prototype. This hob- 
goblin with features of a man, with 
mane and two hairy legs, appeared to 
have dreaded fire, as an illustration 
shows the monster in the act of being 
frightened away by a woman who was 
eating before a fire. 

The Senecas of the Genesee were 
noted for their good husbandry. Gen- 

95 




'iRoauois 





eral Sullivan speaks of finding corn 
grown by them with ears twenty-two 
inches long. Squashes, beans, melons 
and wild fruits were found in great 
abundance. Tobacco was also success- 
fully cultivated. Their cultivated fields 
were confined to a narrow strip of land 
along the banks of the Genesee river 
and the small tributary streams. Good 
and evil spirits played an important 
part in Iroquoian mythology, and the 
following myth relating to the vegetable 
world is described by Ermina Smith. 
Among the good spirits are the three 
sisters who still continue to preside 
over the favorite vegetables, corn, beans 
and squashes. They are represented 
to us as loving each other very dearly 
and dwelling together in peace and 
96 



unity. The vines of the vegetables 
grow on the same soil and cling lov- 
ingly around each other. The spirit of 
corn is supposed to be draped with its 
long leaves and silken tassels. The 
sister who guards the bean has a wreath 
of its velvety pods with garments of 
its delicate tendrils. While the spirit 
of squashes is clothed with the brilliant 
blossoms under her care. On bright 
nights the sisters can be seen flitting 
about or heard rustling among the tall 
corn. To this day yearly festivals are 
held in their honor, and they are ap- 
pealed to as our life and supporters. 

Relics of the Indians often tell a 
story or reveal a page of history as 
forcibly as any written account. Al- 
though as silent as the grave in which 

97 



•iRoauois 




they were placed, they form a direct 
connection between the discoverer and 
the one who made and used them, 
clothing the unwritten history of the 
period which they represent with per- 
petual freshness. However rude and 
though indicating an uncultured people, 
they are ever invested with interest. It 
is greatly to be regretted that so few 
specimens of the skill and ingenuity of 
the Iroquois have come down to us. 

A full description of their imple- 
ments, utensils and fabrics would be 
impossible to furnish, although many 
of their inventions are still preserved 
by Indians living on the various reser- 
vations. Nearly all that portion of 
them that seemed to illustrate the con- 
dition of the hunter life have passed 

98 




FRAGMENT OF WICKER POTTERY. 



LofC. 



away. The conclusion that man com- 
menced his career at the bottom of the 
scale and worked his way from savagery 
to civilization forces itself on the student 
as he finds traces of progress as shown 
in the pieces of pottery found that give 
unmistakable evidence of having been 
used by primitive man. From the 
wicker marked fragments (the first pot- 
tery having been made with a basket of 
wicker for a mould) the advance is easily 
traced by well defined attempts at orna- 
mentation. Commencing with plain 
marking, made simply to relieve a plain 
surface, gradually through a course of 
lines and markings to systematic deco- 
ration, showing skill and certainly a 
knowledge of number and measuremets. 
Early writers claim that the attempt to 

LofC. 99 



'iRoauois 




make the baskets hold liquids by using 
clay resulted in a new discovery. The 
heat finally destroyed the basket, leav- 
ing the clay outside as a separate ves- 
sel. The material used in all aboriginal 
pottery is composed of clay, tempered 
with pounded quartz, shells or fine 
sand, to prevent shrinkage and resist 
the action of the fire. Most of it is 
well burned, but does not show glazing. 
One fine fragment found is of black 
incised pottery produced by placing the 
utensil over a fire made from pitch 
pine, the oily black smoke coloring and 
partially glazing. Whenever pottery 
was buried with the dead, or left be- 
hind when moving from one location 
to another, or when driven away by 
stronger tribes, the vessels were broken 



so as to be rendered useless. In shape 
the vessels were mostly constructed 
with gourd-like bottoms, having a ridge 
or groove around the top to allow for 
suspension. In some cases they have 
fiat bottoms. The usual size was from 
one to four quarts. They were orna- 
mented in the simplest and most uni- 
form way, with designs in relief, or im- 
pressions made with the finger nail or 
the top of the finger, with pieces of 
wood or string pressed into the fresh 
clay. On the more recent vessels the 
markings are in the form of straight or 
zig-zag lines, dots, parallel lines, squares 
and triangles. 

After the intercourse between Euro- 
pean nations commenced, vessels of 
iron, brass, copper and tin super- 




"iRoauois 




seded those of pottery, and its pro- 
duction was discontinued, but the 
Indian pipe was still considered superior 
to that of European manufacture. 

" From the red stone of the quarry 
With his hands he broke a fragment. 
Moulded it into a pipe head. 
Shaped and fashioned it with figures." 

Pipes of various designs are frequent- 
ly found, some of red clay, mixed with 
crushed quartz, others clay burned 
black and having a high polish, others 
of soapstone. Some have figures of 
animals, others with representations of 
the human face. Some of them are 
finished exquisitely, others cut out of 
soapstone are the counterpart of those 
found in the mounds of Ohio and Wis- 
consin, the bowl and stem cut from a 

lOZ 




solid stone occasionally one of red cat- 
linite, such as those used by the Sioux, 
but these were probably obtained in 
trade with the western Indians. One 
is described by Morgan of black mar- 
ble, highlv polished, with bowl and 
stem bored with great precision. Like 
the pipes of the mound builder period 
it has the bowl in the middle of the 
stem. In material and workmanship it 
is superior to the pipes of Iroquois make. 
Metallic implements were almost un- 
known to the Iroquois, as they did not 
understand the use of metals. Their 
knives for skinning deer and other 
game were usually made of flint. The 
same stone knives or axes were used to 
make canoes, mortars and other uten- 
sils. Some times a stone gouge or 
103 




^Roauois. 




chisel was used called Uh-ga-o-gwat-ha. 
In cutting trees a fire was built at the 
foot of a tree and the chisel was used 
to clear away the coal ; by repeating the 
process trees were felled and cut to 
pieces. Wooden vessels were hollowed 
out, and in primitive times wooden 
bowls or tubs were coated with a thick- 
ness of clay that rendered their surface 
impervious to fire. When a regular 
concavity was desired a stone was 
ground with a convex edge. Stone 
mortars were used in which to pound 
corn, mix mineral paint and pulverize 
roots and barks for medicine. 

•* From an oak bough made the arrows. 
Tipped with flint and, winged with feathers. 
And the cord he made of deer skin. 
Then he said to Hiawatha 
Go my son into the forest." 

104 




The arrow, spear and lance points 
were made by flaking the flint into the 
desired form, They are frequently 
formed with a twist that would cause 
them to revolve in their flight. Some 
times the arrow was feathered to pro- 
duce the same result. They understood 
the art of securing the greatest penetra- 
tion with the least possible force. The 
places where these points were manu- 
factured is easily determined by the 
quantity of chips of flint that have 
been made by the cleavage. 

The stone tomahawk was a favorite 
weapon of the Iroquois, it being shaped 
something like an ax with a groove 
fashioned around it, by means of which 
it was fastened to a handle. Small 
stones with a groove worked out en- 




•Iroquois 




tirely around are frequently found that 
were undoubtedly used as the South 
American Indian of the present day 
uses the bolas, viz : By attaching a 
thong two or three feet in length, then 
by uniting several of these they were 
given a rotating motion and thrown into 
a flock of pigeons or ducks, entangling 
the birds in such a way as to secure one 
or more of them. Personal ornaments 
were also constructed of stone and 
very ingeniously worked. Before the 
tomahawks came into use the weapons 
were the bow, the stone hatchet and 
war club. The Ga-je-wa was a weapon 
usually made of ironwood, with a large 
ball or knot at the end, usually about 
two feet in length, and the ball or knot 
five or six inches in diameter. In close 
1 06 



quarters it became a formidable weapon. 
They wore it in a belt. Sometimes a 
deer horn club was used called ga- 
ne-u-ga-o-dus-ha, usually made of hard 
wood, painted and ornamented with 
feathers. At the end in the lower edge 
a sharp pointed deer's horn was inserted ; 
it was a dangerous weapon and inflicted 
a deep wound. They wore it in a 
girdle. After the introduction of metal 
they used a steel or iron point, resemb- 
ling a spear-head. This spear may now 
be found among the Iroquois preserved 
as a relic. The tomahawk succeeded 
the war club, as the rifle succeeded the 
bow. The words tomahawk and In- 
dian if not synonomous are inseperable. 
They are usually made of steel, brass 
or iron. The choice ones are fitted 
107 




•iRoauois 




with a pipe bowl, and have a perforated 
handle for ornament and use, sometimes 
being inlaid with silver. It is the em- 
blem of war ; to bury it meant peace, 
to dig it up the most deadly warfare. 

In 1684, after the French representa- 
tive M. de la Barre had made a speech 
to the assembled sachems, concluding 
with a menace of burning the castles of 
the five nations, Garangula arose and 
with great dignity delivered one of the 
most characteristic specimens of Indian 
eloquence that has been preserved. 
Yonnondio is the name applied to the 
French governor, and Corlear that ap- 
plied to the English as a generic term. 
" Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the 
voice of all the Five Nations. Hear 
what they answer. Open your ears to 
108 



what they speak. The Senecas, Cay- 
ugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mo- 
hawks say that when they buried the 
hatchet at Cadarocqui (in the presence 
of your predecessor), in the middle of 
the fort, they planted the tree of peace 
in the same place, to be there preserved ; 
that in place of a retreat for soldiers 
that fort might be a rendezvous for 
merchants; that in place of arms and 
amunitions of war, beavers and mer- 
chandise should only enter there. 

Hear, Yonnondio. Take care for 
the future that so great a number of 
soldiers as appear there do not choke 
the tree of peace planted in so small a 
fort. It will be a great loss if, after it 
had so easily taken root, you should 
stop its growth and prevent its covering 
109 




'iRoauois 




your country and arms with its 
branches. I assure you, in the name of 
the Five Nations, that our warriors 
shall dance to the calumet of peace 
under its leaves, and shall remain quiet 
on their mats, and shall never dig up 
the hatchet till their brothers Yonnondio 
or Corlear shall, either jointly or sep- 
arately endeavor to attack the country 
which the Great Spirit has given to our 
ancestors. This belt preserve my 
words, and this other the authority 
which the Five Nations have given 
me." 

The moccasin was an Indian inven- 
tion. These were made from the skins 
of animals, more commonly of deer 
skin ; often worked with beads and 
porcupine quills. Much more useful- 




comfortable and fitting than the sandals 
and clumsey footwear of the primitive 
people of the old world. The moccasin 
was made of one piece of deerskin, 
seamed up at the heel and front, leav- 
ing the bottom seamless. The needles 
used to perforate the skin were made of 
stone or bone, taken from the animals ; 
they were highly polished. They have 
been found in Genesee and Livingston 
counties that still retained their polish, 
after ages of exposure to the frost and 
sun. The sinews of the deer furnished 
the thread or cord used. The needles 
are found in mounds, so we may 
reasonably suppose that in one respect 
at least the Iroquois were contempo- 
raries or the successors of the mound 
builders, who are considered by some a 



•iRoauois 




lost race. The method of tanning the 
deer skin was ingenious. Tradition 
tells us that the discovery was acci- 
dental ; the brain of the deer, mixed 
with moss, in order to form it into a 
cake, was thoroughly dried and then 
preserved for years. When the hide 
is fresh the hair and flesh are removed 
by scraping with a wooden or stone 
scraper, the brain cake dissolved, the 
skin soaked in it for a few hours ; when 
it is thoroughly dried it is rubbed until 
pliable — the thick skin requiring a rep- 
etition of the process. As the skin is 
porous and not tough, it is made strong 
and close by allowing smoke to pass 
into and through it, until the pores are 
closed and the skin is thoroughly tough- 
ened and changed from a white to a 



brown, when it is ready for use. The 
brains of other animals are some- 
times used, as is the backbone of 
the eel, which is pounded and boiled. 
Bear skins were prepared by being 
scraped and softened ; they were not 
tanned. The deer skin, while useful, 
could not fill every want. In its line 
bark rope was used by the Indians 
from time immemorial. In its manu- 
facture the inner bark of the slippery 
elm, red elm and basswood were used. 
Having removed the outer bark it was 
boiled in ashes and water. When taken 
out it could be separated into strips 
several feet in length ; it was then laid 
aside for use, slippery elm making the 
most pliable rope. It could be braided 
and was very durable, and could be 

113 




•iRoauois 




used for carrying burdens, making belts 
or for any purpose for which leather or 
hemp rope is used. The squaws often 
wove bark belts, decorating them with 
beads and porcupine quills. 

Utensils of bark were common 
among the earlier Iroquois. Bark bar- 
rels were constructed from the bark of 
the red elm, the grain running around 
the barrel. Up the sides it was stitched 
securely ; both bottom and lid were 
fastened in the same manner. They 
were used for storing grain and other 
goods, and when properly cared for 
would last a hundred years. Trays of 
this character were in common use as 
bread trays for the purpose of knead- 
ing or preparing corn bread. Around 
the rim splints of hickory were bound, 
114 



to give it strength. Some of them 
would hold two and one-half bushels. 

Ga-sna-ga-o-wo, or bark canoes, were 
made by the Iroquois with as great or 
greater skill than any other people. 
Birch bark was the best material, but as 
the canoe birch did not grow in the 
home territory of the Iroquois, thev 
generally used the bark of the butternut, 
hickory or red elm. After taking oiF 
the bark of the required length and 
width and removing the rough outside, 
it was shaped in the canoe form. Thin 
pieces of white ash or any elastic wood 
of four inches in width were run around 
the edge outside and in, and stitched 
through and through. In stitching 
they used bark thread. The ribs were 
of narrow strips of ash placed about a 

115 




'iRoauois 




foot apart, and having been turned up 
at the ends, they were secured under 
the rim. Both ends of the canoe were 
fashioned alike; the two side pieces in- 
clining toward each other until they 
united. They varied in length from 12 
feet for two persons to 40 feet for 30 
persons. 







116 



i 



VII. 

T is interesting to note the sev- 
eral dances indulged in by 
the Iroquois. With them the 
dance was considered a thanksgiving 
ceremonial acceptable to the Great 
Spirit, but believed to have been de- 
signed by Ha-wen-ne-yu for their pleas- 
ure and worship. It was considered a 
suitable means for social intercourse be- 
tween tribes ; it also served to arouse 
patriotic sentiments and kept alive the 
spirit of the nation. The enthusiasm 
arising from the dance was wonderful — 
they were a living reflexion of the In- 
dian mind. The wild music of the 
rattle accompanying song and rythmic 
117 



•iRoauois 




movements made a realistic picture of 
Indian life. The Indian youths' first 
stir of feeling was kindled by the dance, 
the first impulse of patriotism was in- 
spired by its influences. The dances 
were divided into three classes — patri- 
otic, religious and social. The Iro- 
quois had thirty-two distinct dances, 
twenty-six being of their own inven- 
tion, twenty-one being still in use 
among the present Iroquois, each hav- 
ing a separate history, and looked upon 
with a difi^erent degree of favor. Some 
were executed in costume by chosen 
dancers. Some for squaws, others for 
warriors, but the greater part for both 
sexes. Many have been handed down 
from so remote a period that tradition 
does not record their origin. Many were 
ii8 



common to all the red race. Their in- 
fluence in arousing the Indian spirit 
and in excluding all thoughts of a dif- 
ferent life, and their resultant effects 
upon the formation of Indian character 
cannot be too highly estimated. Their 
hold upon the Iroquois is evinced by the 
tenacity with which they are, many of 
them, observed at the present time, the 
Senecas engaging in them as ardently as 
did their forefathers two centuries ago. 
The feather dance and the war dance 
were the two great performances of the 
Iroquois ; one had a religious and the 
other a patriotic character. Morgan's 
description of them is graphic, and we 
quote the same : 

"They were performed by a select 
band of from fifteen to twenty-five, 



119 



'iRoauois 




who were distinguished for their pow- 
ers of endurance, activity and spirit. 
Besides these there were four other cos- 
tume dances. Sometimes the people 
at large were the performers, appearing 
in their ordinary apparel and participa- 
ting to the number of two or three 
hundred at a time. The Iroquois cos- 
tume might he called an apparel for the 
dance. This was the occasion on which 
the warrior was desirous to appear in 
his best attire. The most gaudy cos- 
tume was the kilt or Ga-ka-ah, which 
was secured around the waist by a belt 
and descended to the knee. In ancient 
times this was of deer skin. It was 
fringed and embroidered with porcupine 
quills. In modern times various fab- 
rics have been substituted for deer skin. 



Upon the headdress much attention 
was bestowed. The frame consisted of 
a band of splint adjusted around the 
head with a cross band arching over 
the top from side to side. A cap was 
made to enclose the frame. In later 
times a silver band was fastened around 
the splints ; from the top a cluster of 
white feathers depended ; besides this 
a single feather of the largest size was 
set in the corner of the headdress in- 
clining backward. This feather, which 
was usually the plume of an eagle is the 
characteristic of the Iroquois. The 
leggin, which was feathered at the knee 
and descended upon the moccasin, was 
made originally of deer skin, and orna- 
mented with quill work upon the bot- 
tom and side, the embroidered edge 




'iRoauois 




being in front. In later times red 
broadcloth embroidered with beads has 
been substituted. In most cases much 
ingenuity and taste were displayed in 
the execution of the work upon this 
article of apparel. The warrior might 
well be proud of this part of his cos- 
tume. The moccasin was also made of 
deer skin. In the modern moccasin 
the front part is worked with porcupine 
quills after the ancient fashion, and the 
part which falls down upon the sides is 
embroidered with beads. Not the least 
important article was the belt, which 
was prized as highly as any part of the 
costume. These belts were braided by 
hand, the beads being interwoven 
in the process of braiding. They 
were worn over the left shoulder and 



I 22 




around the waist. Arm bands, knee 
bands and wrist bands were also part of 
the costume. Sometimes they were 
made of deer skin or white dog skin, 
and in later times of red and blue vel- 
vet embroidered with beads. In addi- 
tion to knee bands, knee rattlers of deers' 
hoofs were worn. Personal ornaments 
of various kinds, with the war club, tom- 
ahawk and scalping knife completed the 
attire. No change has been made in 
the various articles of apparel ; they are 
now precisely the same as those worn 
by the Iroquois at the time of their dis- 
covery, except in the material used. In 
preparing for the dance it was deemed 
strictly necessary to have the headdress, 
belt and kilt, each wearer adding such 
ornaments, rattlers, etc., as he wished. 
123 



>lRoauois. 




While either one of the two dances, 
the religious or the patriotic, was suffi- . 
cient to arouse their enthusiasm, the 
war dance was the favorite. It was the 
rallying dance for dangerous expedi- 
tions that might cost the warrior his 
life, the dance that was indulged in 
just before the departure of the band, 
or upon the return of a victorious 
party. It was also the dance when 
sachems were raised to their office or 
upon the adoption of captives, enter- 
tainment of guests or initiation of the 
young. It was of Sioux origin, reach- 
ing back to a remote antiquity. It was 
the only dance in which speeches or re- 
sponses were appropriate, and in this 
particular it was novel and oftentimes 
furnished great amusement. The big 
124 



talks relieved the dancers and diverted 
the people. It was usually of two or 
three hours' duration and performed in 
the evening, and only indulged in on 
important occasions. Fifteen made a 
full company, but often thirty partici- 
pated. Preparations were made after 
dusk. In the evening all gathered in 
the council house and arranged them- 
selves in favorable position to observe 
the dancers. The selection of the per- 
formers and leaders was usually made 
by the keeper of the faith, who also se- 
lected the war songs. In a lodge near 
the council house the band arrayed 
themselves in costume and war paint. 
Occasionally the war-whoop would 
break the stillness of the night as an in- 
dication that their preparations were 
125 




iRoauois. o- 




progressing. A keeper of the faith 
meantime prepared the assembled au- 
dience for what was coming by explain- 
ing the nature and objects of the dance. 
Presently a nearer war-whoop ringing 
through the air announced that the 
band was approaching, preceded by 
their leader, and marching to the beat 
of the drum. They drew near to the 
council house ; as they came the crowd 
made room for them ; the leader en- 
tered, followed by the feathered band, 
and at once opened the dance. In an 
instant they grouped themselves within 
a circular area. Standing thick together 
the singers commenced the war song, 
the drums beat, and the dancers made 
the hard floor resound with the noise of 
their feet. After a minute the song 
126 



ceased and with it the dance ; the band 
walked around a common center to the 
beat of the drum at half time ; another 
song soon commenced, the dancers 
quickened their time. In the middle of 
the song there was a change in the 
music, also a slight cessation of the 
dance, after which it became more ani- 
mated than before, until the song ended 
and the band again walked to the beat 
of the drum. Each time the war song 
lasted about two minutes, and the inter- 
val between them was about as long. 
These songs were usually recited by 
about four singers, the drums beat twice 
in each second, the voice of the singer 
keeping pace, making rapid and strongly 
accented music." 

Charlevoix furnishes this translation 

127 



'iRoauois 




of one of the songs : 

" I am brave and intrepid. 
I do not fear death or any kind of torture. 
Those who fear them are cowards. 
They are less than women. 
Life is nothing to those who have courage. 
May my enemies be confounded with despair 
and rage." 

Doubtless nearly all of their war 
songs were of this same general char- 
acter. It is difficult to describe the 
step except generally. It was chiefly 
on the heel, with rapid changes of posi- 
tion. The heel was raised with great 
quickness, to keep time with the beat 
of the drum, at the same time shaking 
the knee rattles. In the war dance the 
attitudes were those expressing violent 
passions, and were not graceful. At 
128 



the same instant in a group one might 
be seen in the attitude of attack, an- 
other of defense, one in the act of draw- 
ing a bow, another of striking with a 
war club, some in the act of throwing 
the tomahawk, some Hstening, others 
striking a foe. The violent motions of 
the body, while they increased the spirit 
of the dance, led to distortions of the 
countenance as well as uncouth attitudes. 
The striking costumes of the dancers, 
their erect forms at certain stages of 
the figures, the rattle of the dance to- 
gether with the excited people made up 
a scene of no common interest. In 
this dance the warwhoop and the re- 
sponse always preceded each song ; it 
was given by the leader and answered 
by the band. A description of this ter- 
129 




"iRoauois 




rific outbreak of the human voice is 
scarcely possible. It was a prolonged 
sound upon a high note, with a deca- 
dence near the end, followed by an 
abrupt and explosive conclusion, in 
which the voice was again raised to the 
same pitch. The whole band respond- 
ed with a scream, upon the same key 
with which the leader concluded and at 
the same instant. Any one present 
was at liberty to make a speech at any 
stage of the dance. His desire was 
communicated by a rap. At this sound 
the dance ceased, or if finished and the 
band were walking, the drums ceased 
and all present were quiet. The only 
condition affixed to the right of making 
a speech was that of bestowing a pres- 
ent at its close to the dancers or to the 
130 



one addressed. After the speech was 
concluded and the present bestowed, 
the war-whoop and responses were 
again sounded, the drums beat, th'^ 
song and dance commenced and were 
ended as before. Then followed an- 
other speech, and still another. In this 
manner the war dance was continued 
until the spirit of enjoyment began to 
subside, when the final war-whoop put 
an end to the dance and the band re- 
tired. The speeches were often pleas- 
antries between individuals, or strictures 
upon each other's foibles or peculiarities, 
or perchance patriotic exhibitions of 
feeling, according to the fancy of the 
speaker. 




131 



'iRoauois 




VIII. 



HEIR superstitious belief was a 
great obstacle to the enlight- 
enment of the savage. The 
overthrow of the superstition of the 
dream was the first work of the Jesuit 
priest. From the date of their entrance 
among the Indians commences our ac- 
tual knowledge of the conditions then 
existing ; their relation furnish a record 
of privation and suffering^ for the cause 
in which they were engaged, that to-day, 
is the admiration of the student of 
history. The divinity followed by the 
Indian prior to the introduction of 
Christianity was the dream. Many 
stories told by the early missionaries 
illustrate the important part played by 

132 



it. They thought or talked of nothing 
else ; their wigwams and forests were 
full of dreams. They spared no pains 
or trouble to manifest their devotion to 
the spirit of the dream. If an Indian 
dreamed of captivity he called upon his 
friends to find him and make the situa- 
tion as real as possible, after which he 
thinks that a real capture and torture 
has been thwarted, and the dream is 
given credit for having saved his life. 
They have been known to have trav- 
eled hundreds of miles to procure a 
certain dog that they had dreamed 
might be purchased. One can easily 
imagine the dangers early settlers and 
traders must have found themselves 
subjected to among a people who would 
murder and scalp in cold blood one 

133 



>lRoauois 




1 



whom they might dream of as deserv- 
ing such a fate. The squaws, by the 
peculiarities of their sex, were the most 
zealous devotees of the idol ; and while 
no sacrifice was offered to it they tried 
to bring to pass the condition of the 
dream, fully believing that whatever vV/ 

they failed to execute would come back 
to them in some misfortune. It was 
somewhat remarkable that most of the 
Indians took less pains to perform the 
requirements of the dream when in good 
health than when ailing ; then a sover- 
eign cure was effected by the faithful 
performance of whatever they may 
have dreamed. 

Medicine men were always called in, 
and invariably turned the interpretation 
of the dream to a source of profit, as 

•34 



the poor Indian would spare nothing 
in doing what the medicine man deem- 
ed necessary for the propitiation of 
the Great Spirit. In every age and 
condition of society the best thought 
of the most gifted intellects have 
been expended upon religious sub- 
jects. These conclusions and reflec- 
tions by an individual growth be- 
come a fixed belief, and in time a 
system of worship is founded. Belief 
and worship become incorporated into 
the civil and social institutions of man 
and soon form a part of the living and 
active mind. Without a knowledge, 
therefore, of the religious life of a 
people their political and domestic 
transactions would be wholly inexpli- 
cable. The purity of the elements of 

135 



•iRoauois 




the religious system of the Iroquois 
compensates for the blemishes of its 
spiritual edifice. The Greeks dis- 
covered traces of divinity in nature's 
works. In the belief of the Indians 
and that of the ancients there was a 
similarity of ideas that was noticeably 
shown in the legend and fable and still 
stronger in their notion of the spiritual 
world, rising in many respects above 
the highest conception of the ancient 
philosphy. 

The name Great Spirit was applied by 
the entire red race to their deity, they 
not only believed that the Great Spirit 
existed, but their deductions were drawn 
from nature. Ancient mythology taught 
that the gods were born. The red men 
believed that the Great Spirit was born 
136 



and that He was active in the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of nature. 

In their religious system they had 
little to do with the creation of the 
visible universe. Tradition told them 
that it grew miraculously, a self-pre- 
pared abode for the Great Spirit, before 
the advent of which they had no 
knowledge. They acknowledged the 
creation of the animal and vegetable 
world, and the adaptation of the ele- 
ments and the whole universe to the 
use of man. That the Indian arrived 
at a fixed belief in the existence of one 
superior being has been a matter of 
surprise and admiration, says Morgan. 
In the existence of a Great Spirit, 
invisible, but ever present, the univer- 
sal red race believed, and by the uni- 

137 



iRoauois. o- 




versality of this belief he was saved 
from the deepest of all barbarism and 
idol worship. They regarded the 
Great Spirit as the god of the Indian 
alone. They looked up to Him as 
the author of their being, to Him they 
gave thanks for the changes of seasons, 
corn, fruits, game and fish. 

While their religious system taught 
the existence of the Great Spirit, Ha- 
ne-go-ate-geh was recognized as an 
evil spirit, and had a prior existence. 
The creation of man and all useful ani- 
mals was credited to the Great Spirit. 
While to the Evil Spirit was given the 
creation of all monsters, reptiles and 
noxious plants. The Great Spirit de- 
lighted in virtue and in the happiness 
of his creatures. Ha-ne-go-ate-geh's 

138 



deeds were always evil, creating discord 
and multiplying calamities. The In- 
dian's trust in the Great Spirit gave him 
strength to withstand the wiles of the 
evil one. Henu, to whom was commit- 
ted the thunderbolt, at once the voice 
of admonition and the instrument of 
vengeance, was also intrusted with the 
formation of the clouds and the gift of 
rain. By Henu was the earth to be 
cooled and refreshed. He sustained 
harvests, ripened and matured the fruits. 
Evil doers and witches were made the 
subjects of his wrath, and often threat- 
ened with a visitation from Him, with 
power to inflict sudden and fearful pun- 
ishment. He was regarded as the 
avenger of evil, was represented as 
being in the form of a man dressed in 

139 



•iRoauois 




the costume of a warrior ; upon his 
head was worn the magical feather, ren- 
dering him invulnerable to the attacks 
of the Evil Spirit. He always carried a 
basket of flints, fragments of flint rock, 
which he threw as he rode in the clouds. 
In the spring time their invocations 
were to Henu, that he would water, 
nourish and care for the crops. At 
harvest time they returned thanks to him 
for the gift of rain, and asked him to 
contine to them the watchful care of the 
thunderer. Henu was given the title 
of grandfather by the Iroquois, in order 
to bring him into closer relation with 
them in all his acts ; they recognized 
the higher power of the Great Spirit. 
Another spirital creation of the Iro- 
quois is recognized in Ga-oh, the spirit 
140 




of the winds. He was also subordi- 
nate to the Great Spirit. He was rep-, 
resented in the form and face of an old 
man in solitary confinement, surround- 
ed by a tangle of discordant winds and 
apparently impatient of restraint. His 
residence, the home of the winds, was 
in the western quarter of the heavens. 
His struggles to free himself caused the 
breeze, varying in force as his struggles 
increased. The spring wind moves the 
clouds and shakes the tree tops, but 
when Ga-oh reaches a state of frenzy he 
sends forth blasts that strike down the 
tall strong trees. The Indian sur- 
rounds himself with many of the inhab- 
itants of the spiritual world, such as the 
spirit of medicine, fire water, and dif- 
erent species of trees, shrubs and plants. 
141 





Many objects of nature were placed 
under the watchful care of some pro- 
tecting spirit, some being given bodily 
form and specific duties, but the most 
were feebly imagined existence. In 
their worship these subordinates were 
known as the invisible aids, and in- 
cluded the whole spiritual world, from 
Heme the thunderer down to the spirit 
of the Strawberry. The Iroquois ap- 
pear to have had but a faint conception 
of the omnipresence of the Great Spirit 
or of any individual power sufficient to 
administer unassisted the works of cre- 
ation and the affairs of men. They 
believed that the Great Spirit had sur- 
rounded himself with subordinate spirit- 
ual beings of his own creation, to whom 
were given the immediate supervision 

142 



of the works of nature. He thus ren- 
dered himself in a limited sense omni- 
present, ruling and regulating the works 
of creation with ease. These spirits 
were never objects of worship; the 
Iroquois regarded them merely as un- 
seen assistants and executors of the will 
of the Great Spirit. 

All the agencies of evil were the 
creations of Ha-ne-go-ate-geh ; to 
counteract these the efforts of the Great 
Spirit and his spiritual host were neces- 
sarily put forth. The Iroquois believed 
that tobacco was given them as a means 
of communication with the spiritual 
world. By burning it they could send 
petitions with its incense up to the 
Great Spirit, and render acknowledg- 
ment for blessings ; without this offer- 

H3 




•iRoauois 




ing the ear of the Great Spirit could not 
be gained. In like manner they re- 
turned thanks to the invisible aids for 
their friendly offices and protecting 
care. It was customary with them to 
thus return thanks to the trees, shrubs, 
plants, rivers, fire, winds, in fact to 
every thing in nature that ministered to 
their wants and awakened feelings of 
gratitude. This was sometimes done 
without the intervention of tobacco; 
they addressing the object themselves. 
The use of tobacco was common to 
both sexes, while some writers call the 
Iroquois the tobacco people. But few 
tribes have been known that were not 
inveterate users of the weed. 

A belief in witches remains with many 
of them to this day. It was formerly one 
144 



of the most deep-seated notions in the 
minds of the Iroquois. Formerly 
manly lives were sacrificed in accord- 
ance with a law that a witch must die. 
Morgan speaks of an instance where a 
squaw was shot on the Allegany reser- 
vation, in 1850, and further says that 
such instances have been common 
among the Senecas within the last fifty 
years. But we need to go back but a 
few years in our own history to find a 
parallel in the taking of life under the 
mistaken notion that the supernatural 
was vested in human beings. There 
was a current belief among the Iroquois 
that witches were banded together in a 
secret organization, having an initiation 
ceremony, the fee being the life of his 
nearest and dearest friend, taken with 

145 




^Roauois. 




poison on the night of his admission. 

Their readiness to accept the super- 
stitious beHefs may be ascribed to the 
legends and fables handed down to the 
young from year to year. These tales 
for extravagance of invention surpassed 
the fireside stories of all others. 

The two following stories were given 
by Albert Cusick : 

A man whose brother was very sick 
suspected the witches of causing his 
illness. He tried to find out who they 
were and where they met, so he went 
to an old woman, and told her he 
wanted to be a witch. She said : "If 
you are very much in earnest you may 
be, but when you begin you must go 
to your sister and point at her. Then 
she will be taken sick, and after a time 
146 



will die." So he went and told his 
sister and they arranged a plan. She 
was to pretend to be ill after he came 
home, and let this be known. When 
night came he started for the place of 
meeting with the old woman, but as he 
went he now and then broke off a leaf 
or a bit of underbrush. All at once 
the old woman sprang into a tree and 
clung to it ; and as she turned around 
she was a great panther, with sharp 
teeth, glaring eyes and long claws. As 
she spit and snarled at him he was ter- 
ribly frightened, but pretended not to 
be afraid. So she came down as an old 
woman again, and said? "Didn't I 
frighten you ?" " Oh, no," he answered, 
" I was not a bit afraid ; I would like 
to be like that myself" So they went 



'iRoauois 




on, and as they went he broke the bush 
here and there. After a time they came 
to an open place in the woods where 
were gathered many old men and 
women, and some young women, too. 
He was surprised at those he found 
there. There was a little kettle over a 
fire in the midst of the place. It was 
very small indeed, not larger than a tea- 
cup. Over it hung a bunch of snakes, 
from which blood dripped into the 
kettle, and of this all drank a little 
from time to time. He pretended to 
drink, and after that looked carefully 
about to see who were there. They 
did many things, and took many shapes, 
and frequently asked what he would 
like to be. He said "A screech owl." 
So they gave him an owl's head, which 
148 



was to put on later. They told him 
when he had this on he would be able 
to fly like a bird. He imitated the 
owl's cries and movements, and they 
said he would be a boss witch. When 
he put on the head he seemed to loose 
control of himself, and it took him 
over the trees to his brother's house. 
At the same time the meeting broke up 
and the witches went ofl^ in various 
shapes, as foxes, wolves, panthers, 
hawks and owls. When he came to 
his brother's all in the house were scared 
at the noise of an owl on the roof, for 
he made sounds just like one. Then 
he took off the head and went into the 
house. He pointed at a dog instead of 
his sister, and the dog sickened and 
died. His sister pretended to be sick, 







149 



^Roauois. 




as they had agreed, and the witches 
came to see her. They mourned for 
her, just as though they had not intend- 
ed her death, and talked about her ill- 
ness everywhere. The next day the 
young man got the warriors together, 
and told what he had seen. They con- 
sulted and armed themselves, agreeing 
to follow him that night. The band 
went through the bushes and trees, 
finding the way by the leaves and twigs 
he had broken. They knew the spot, 
which was on their reservation, and 
when they reached it the witches' meet- 
ing had begun. They had officers and 
speakers, and one of them was making 
a fine speech. He said if they killed 
any person they would go to Heaven, 
and the Great Spirit would reward the 
150 



witches well. They might save their 
victims from much evil by killing them, 
for they might become bad or unfor- 
tunate. If they died now they would 
go to the Great Spirit. While he was 
speaking the young man gave a sign, 
and the warriors rushed in and killed 
all the witches. 

The other story is as follows : 
An old woman lived with her grand- 
son, but went away from home every 
night. There was a loft in her house, 
where she went every evening, but she 
would not let the boy go. He asked 
many times where she went, but she 
would not tell. When he seemed 
asleep she was off at once, and if he 
woke up when she returned he heard a 
curious sound on the roof before she 

151 




•iRoauois 





came in. Once while she was away 
during the day he thought he would 
find out what he could ; so he climbed 
into the loft. There was a hole in the 
roof, and in one corner of the loft there 
was a round chest of bark. In the bot- 
tom of this he found an owl's head. 
" Ah, this is very fine," said he. So 
he put the owl's head on his head. At 
once he lost control of himself, and the 
head flew off with him. He did not 
know what would happen, but seemed 
and acted like an owl. Away he went 
through the air to a house, where a 
sick woman lay, and flew all around it. 
A very crazy acting owl was he, as any 
owl might have been in the sun. He 
tried to stop himself but could not. He 
caught hold of sunflowers, but they came 
152 



up by the roots. He caught hold of 
bushes, and they did the same. At last 
he flew into the house and fell among 
the ashes, where the frightened people 
caught him. They found nothing but 
a small boy and an owl's head. He 
told his story, and thus a witch was 
found out. 

It was reserved for the Iroquois to 
rest themselves upon a durable founda- 
tion by the estabhshment of a league. 
This alliance between their nations they 
connected by the imperishable bands of 
tribal relationship that would in time 
have absorbed or exterminated the 
whole Indian family east of the Missis- 
sippi. " Their council fires, so far as 
they are emblematic of civil jurisdiction, 
may have long since been extinguished. 

153 



{} 



glRoauois__ 




« 



Their empire has terminated, and the 
shades of evening are now gathering 
thickly over the scattered and feeble 
remnants of the once powerful league. 
Race has yielded to race, the inevitable 
result of the contact of the civilized 
with the hunter life. Who shall relate 
with what pangs of regret they yielded 
up from river to river, from lake to 
lake, this broad, fair domain of their 
fathers. The Iroquois will soon be 
lost as a people in that night of impen- 
etrable darkness in which so many In- 
dian races have been enshrouded. 
Already their country has been appro- 
priated, their forests cleared and their 
trails obliterated. The residue of the 
powerful and gifted race who still linger 
around their native seats, are destined to 

154 



fade away until they become eradicated 
as an American stock. 

We shall ere long look backward to 
the Iroquois as a race blotted from ex- 
istence; but to remember them as a 
people whose Sachems had no cities, 
whose religion had no temples, and 
whose government had no record." 




155 




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